In a world with an intellectual history of seven thousand years behind it, where do Pakistanis stand, what are they doing, what do they aspire to be, and what ought they to be doing? This Blog takes Notes of all of that ...

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Conspiracy Mindset

What’s
a conspiracy mindset?

It’s
a mind set in to explaining things or events by going beyond the same things
and events.

That
is, it places itself at the exterior of a thing or an event, and sees it from
there, and instead of explaining it scientifically in parts or philosophically
as a whole, so to say, explains it in a causal relation to “something / someone
else” existing outside of it.

Such
a mind takes things in their totality and explains them away once and for all
as absolutely caused by A, or B, or C, etc, where A, B, C, etc, may be a
humanoid entity or a personified entity.

Such
a mind is so impatient and intolerant towards things or events that it cannot
wait for them to unravel, and / or then know them slowly and gradually, and
thus in haste ascribes their happening to this or that human agency.

In
that, such a mind tries to capture a mountain in its hands. Or as is said in
Urdu, tries to capture an ocean in a droplet. Or, tries to capture centuries
instantly!

Let
me clarify, in arts and literature that human urge may find its fulfillment,
but not in knowledge where its intervention transforms theories into ossified
ideologies.

In
that, such a mind repudiates all human knowledge and the patient striving to
gain knowledge.

In
that, such a mind rejects the discovery of the past, claims to know the future
beforehand, and for the present lives inside of a conspiracy imposed upon it by
itself.

Such
a mind relaxes in explaining things and events and their knowledge as externally
caused by already known humanoid forces.

In
that, such a mind strips the things of their internal nature, and turns them
hollow.

In
that, such a mind denies evolution of the things and the universe.

In
that, to such a mind, from the infinitesimal part of the universe to the
measurably immense universe itself, every thing and every event appears to be a
conspiracy!

Note:
In explicating the conspiracy mindset, I was so much given to how it works that
I missed the context completely within which it works. Friend, Professor Zafar
Jamal, with whom I shared it before posting, rightly pointed out that the
conspiracy mindset assigns every conspiracy to this or that human agency or any
such personified agency.

Thanks,
Professor! He also promises to write about the conspiracy mindset from the
psychological standpoint. For that “Thanks” are pending with me till its
completion!

Sure! Conspiracy theories give information about the prevalent beliefs and opinions! As such, they are valuable; but otherwise, they mislead and confound; and conceals the truth as well as urge for truth.

The Blogger

The blogger cherishes a cosmopolitan spirit; he is a moralist; a rationalist; a philosopher; a political philosopher; he believes in Classical Liberalism, as a Theory of Conduct.
He has substantially contributed to the founding of the first free market think tank of Pakistan, Alternate Solutions Institute.
He is a writer who wrote / published dozens of articles on a variety of issues, and is author of 4 books.
He wrote / published short-stories in Punjabi, a regional language of Pakistan.
He composes poetry both in Urdu and Punjabi, and has already published one collection.